Tray-turhing machine



K. SANWO.

TRAY TURNING MACHINE.

APPLICATION I'ILED MAY 22. 1919.

1,323,552. Patented Dec. 2,1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

I r L O I /IIIIIII/ K. SANWO.

TRAY TURNING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 22. I919.

1 323,552. I Patented Dec. 2,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

k HM m J x KATSUJ'IRO SANWO, OF FRESNO, CALIFORNIA.

TRAY-TURNING MACHIN E.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 2, 1919.

Application filed May 22, 1919. Serial No. 299,063.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, KATSUJIRO SANWo, a subject of the Emperor of Japan,residing at Fresno, in the county of Fresno and State of California,have invented new Tray- Turning Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a new and useful machine particularly adaptedfor turning trays, and for discharging the contentsv of one tray intoanother.

The present method of handling grapes, consists in gathering the grapeson trays which are placed in a row, and left to dry in the sun. When thegrapes are dried upon the upper or exposed side, two operators passalong the row of trays and place an empty tray with bottom uppermost, onthe consecutive trays, and turn the trays to reverse position so thatthe grapes will fall into the empty tray to dry in the sun on theopposite side. The empty tray is then placed on the next successive fulltray and the operation is repeated until all the grapes have been turnedwithin the trays.

The object of the present invention is to provide a machine which maypass along the row of trays and perform the operation of gathering eachtray from the ground. placing an empty tray thereon, reversing theposition of the trays, depositing the tray containing the turned grapesupon the ground, and placing the empty tray upon the next successivetray containing grapes. The machine is designed to perform all thesefunctions while passing along the row.

With these ends in view the invention consists in the improvedconstruction, the novel arrangement and combination of'parts, and

the efficient operation of the machine, whichwill be hereinafter fullydescribed, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machineembodying my invention. Fig.2 is a fragmentary and plan view thereof.Flg. 3 1s a fragmentary and sectional view showlng the actuatingmechanism for the tray holder and turner. Fig.-

4 is a fragmentary view of the ratchet turning members. view of the trayturning member. Fig. 6 is a perspective detail, view of the traygrippingmember. Fig. 7 is a perspective detail view of a supporting roller andits.

bell-crank supporting member. Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary'andsectional view of Fig. 5 is a sectional detail the machine. Fig. 9 is anenlarged fragmentary and plan view of the machine.

Referring to the drawings, this invention consists of a machineembodying the main side frame members 11 and frame members 12, 13, 14,and 15, and lower frame members 16, connected at the rear to framemembers 15, and at the front to transverse. frame member 17 supported bythe depending frame members 18. The master-wheels 19, are mounted torotate on independent and fixed hub and axle members 20 projectinginwardly from the side frame members 11. A countershaft 21 is journaledin frame members 16, and is provided at each end with a sprocket pinion22, driven by the sprocket wheels 23 fixed to the master-wheels andconnected by sprocket chains 24 therewith. The sprocket pinions 22, aremounted with ratchet connecting members 25, so that either master-wheelmay drive the countershaft.

V A bearing member 26 projects rearwardly from the frame member 17 andis fixed to frame members 16. The rollers 27 are mounted on shaft 28,journaled in bearing member 26. A countershaft 29 and gear members 30and 31, form a driving connection between the countershaft-21 and rollershaft 28. The arrangement is such that the roller shaft is driven in arotary direction contrary to that of the master-wheels.

An auxiliary frame 87 is pivotally con-- nected to brackets 88projecting from transverse frame member 17 The forward end 32 issupported by truck wheels 33, mounted on hearing extensions 34, workingin slots 35, in thedepending frame members 36. Springs 37 are interposedbetween the ends of the slots and the bearing extensions 34, allowingthe auxiliaryframe to tilt laterally in accordance with inequalities ofthe ground.

A bar 38 is swivelly connected to frame member 12, and may be secured inposition on either side of the machine by passing the bolt 39 throughbar 38, and the side member extremities 40. A whiftletree 41 ispivotally having rounded extremities 46, are adaptedto contact closelywith the surface of the ground, and to convey the trays to the conveyer47, traveling over the rollers 27 and 48.

The crosshead guides 49 are fixed to the frame members 16 and haveslidingly mounted therein the crossheads 50, provided with fixed crankpin members 51 and axle members 52. The crank-pins 51 are connected bylinks 53, with levers integral with the shaft 55. The fixed axle membershave mounted thereon the gears 56, provided with teeth57, upon half ofthe periphery 58, in engagement with the racks 59, integral with thecrosshead guides. The. tray turning members 60'are provided with ratchetpinions 61, and gears 56 are provided with pawls 62 adapted to rotatethe turning mem here 60 and their integral ratchet pinions 61. Anonrotating ratchet pinion 63 is mounted on a non-rotating axle 52,projecting from each crosshead. Theturning member 60 is provided with apawl 6 1 on each side in engagement with the corresponding non-rotatingratchet pinion 63; Therefore, upon.

the forward reciprocating motion of the turning member andthecrossheadsv 50, the gears 56 will rotate in aclockwise direction, butthe pawls 641m engagement .with the non-rotating ratchet pinions 63,serve to prevent rotation of the turning member. Upon reverse motion ofthe crossheads, the gears 56 will rotate in a counter-clockwisedirection and serve toturn the tray-turningmemher to reverse position.An operating lever 65 is mounted on eitherside of the machine. A slidingclutch member 66, is provided with an integral lever arm 67, on eitherendof the shaft" 55,. which is journaled in the frame,

' and av connecting bar 68,. connects operating lever 65 with acorrespond-ing lever arm 67. Each sliding, clutch member 66 may bethrown into engagement with a corresponding fixed clutch member 69 onshaft- 55, which may therefore be operated from either side of themachine. The extreme forward position' of the operating levers is shownin full lines in the various figures of the drawings,

r and in Fig. 8 therearposition o-fthe operating levers is shown indotted lines. Corresponding; positions ofythe tray-turning memher. areshown in Fig. 8.

'The tray-turning member consists of hollow sidemembers 70 and integraltransverse connecting bars 71. Within the side members 70, 'are' mountedthe longitudinally reciprocating bars 72 and 73. These are operativelyconnected icy-parallel links '74:, piv- 3 otally connected to lugs 75projecting from the side members 70.- Bars '72 and 73 therefore movesimultaneously inopposite directions. The upper movablebars 72 areprovided with projecting lugs 76, adapted-to e11 gage with came :77 intheextrome forward position of the turning members, and with eams78 theextreme, rearwardposition ofgage with cams 77 or 78, the tray grippingmembers move apart in opposite directions thereby releasing a tray thatmaybe held by them. A spring 82, connected atone end to bars 7 3, andatthe opposite end to swivel gripping members 7 9, serves to retract thegripping members to normal position. Rollers 83, mounted on thebell-crank members 84, serve to support the tray within the turningmember 60, in all positions except the extreme rear or-release position.As each movable bar 72 is, actuated by cam 78, as the member 60approaches its release-position', the bell-crank niembers are actuatedby the bar 72 and the rollers. are withdrawn from operative position. Inuse, the machinemay be driven upon either sideoif a row of trayscontaining-the grapes. The operator will hold the lever 65 in anyintermediate position between the ex-v treme forward and the extremerear positions. As the loaded trays are carried in position by theconveyer e7, they will be carried partly by the conveyor 47 and partlyby the. rollers 83. The loaded tray may stop in any ofjthe, intermediatepositions oitheturning member. The operator, upon noting that the trayhas passed to the rear of cams 78, will pull the operating lever to theextreme rear position, thereby shifting the tray turning member 60to theextreme for ward position. 7 As the extreme forward and operativepos1t1on is approached, the cams 7S Wlll engage with and actuate lugs 76, thereby moving the upper gripping members member 60, limits therearward movement of the loaded tray. When the loaded tray comes intocontact with the swivel gripping members 79, thelugs 85. projecting fromthe inner walls of the turning member, engage with cams .86, on theturning gripping men1.

bers, which serves to move the opposed tray L gripping members slightlyapart until the loaded tray has passed the swivel gripping members,Uponrelease of the swivel gripping members, they are retracted by the so'ringsSZ to engage'with the loaded tray.

The operator immediately will pull the onerating, leverto forwardposition, thereby shifting the tray turning member 60, to eX- tremerearward position, and during such movement the member 60 is rotated ahalf of a revolution, thereby reversing the position of the trays, andcausing the contents to pass from one to the other of the trays. The bottom tray with the turned grapes, is then released upon completing therearward and rotary movement of the turning member. The operator thenshifts the operating lever to any intermediate forward position of theturning member, and when the next consecutive tray approaches anyposition to the rear of the cams 78, will repeat the operation, byshifting lever 65 to operative positions. The operation of gathering thetrays from the ground is automatic and the turning of the trays isaecomplished'by manual manipulation of the lever 65.

While I have shown the preferred form of my invention as now known tome, it is evident that various changes in the combinati on,construction, and'arrangement of parts, may be made without departingfrom the spirit of my invention.

l/Vhat is claimed is:

1. In a tray-turning machine, the combination with a frame,-ofmaster-wheels supporting the frame, an auxiliary frame pivotallyconnected to the main frame, truckwheels supporting the auxiliary frame,a bearing member projecting from the frame, a belt roller carried by thebearing member, a roller carried by the auxiliary frame, a eonveyerarranged to travel over said rollers, a countershaft, sprocket and chainconnec tion between the master-wheels and the countershaft, a shaft andgear connection between the countershaft and the rear conveyer rollerwhereby the roller is driven in a direction contrary to the rotativenove ment of the mastenwheels, a tray turning member sliding to forwardposition over the conveyer and to rearward position to clear theconveyor, means for manually shifting the turning member to eitherposition, and means to operate the turning member with arotar movementduring the rearward movement thereof.

2. In. a device as described, means for gathering the traysconsecutively from the ground, means for placing an empty tray over eachfull tray, means for reversing the position of the trays to shift thecontents of the full tray to the empty tray, and means for releasing thetra] with the transferred contents.

3. In a device as described, the combination with a conveying beltarranged to move the trays from the ground to release position, of atray turning member adapted to receive the travs from the conveyer'belt, means to manually shift the turning member to and fro relative tothe conveyer belt, and means for operating the turning member a with ahalf of a revolution during the rearward movement thereof, means forgripping the tray at any intermediate position of the turning member,and means for releasing the gripping means when the tray-turning memberapproaches the rearward and re lease position.

l. In a device as described, a tray-turnii'ig member, comprising hollowside niiembers, transverse bars connecting the side members atdiagonally opposite corners, sup ports projecting inwardly from the sidemembers, rollers carried by said supports, means for moving the rollersto inoperative position as the turning member approaches t 1e releaseposition for the trays, longitudinal bars mounted within the sidemembers, parallel links connecting the bars whereby they will movesimultaneously in opposite directions, a pair of gripping membersswivelly mounted on the end of the outer reciprocating bars, inclined.faces on the swivel gripping members whereby they are forced out of theway by the loaded tray, cams on the swivel members, lugs projecting fromthe walls of the side members and en gaging with the cams on the swivelgripping members whereby the longitudinal bars are actuated upon angularswivel movement of the swivel gripping members, fixed and oppositelydisposed gripping members on the in nor reciprocatmg bars, reciprocatingcrossheads journale d in the side members, means for manually operatingthe crossheads with a reciprocating movement, crosshead guides for thecrossheads, toothed rack members integral with the crosshead guides, apinion rotatively mounted on the crosshead, and operated by engagementwith the rack and in opposite rotary directions during the reciprocatingmovement of the crossheads, ratchet pinions integral with the sidemembers, pawls mounted on the rotary pinions and engaging with theratchet pinions when the rotary pinions are operated with acountor-clockwise movement, fixed and non-ro tating ratchet membersintegral with the crossheads, pawls mounted on the side members andengaging with the non-rotating ratchet pinions to prevent rotation ofthe turning members when the rotary pinions are actuated with aclockwise movement.

5. In a device as described, a tray-turning member, comprising hollowside members, transverse bars connecting the side members, means formanually shifting the trayturning member alternately to tray-engagingposition, and to tray-releasing position, means for rotating thetray-turning member with a semicircular rotary movement while passingfrom the tray-engaging position to the tray-releasing position, rollerssupporting the tray within the tray-turning member, tray-gripperscarried by each side member, means for releasing thetray-griptray-releasing position, and means for with-V drawing thesupporting rollers from operative position simultaneously with theactuation of the tray-grippers in the release po-- sition.

6. In a device as described, a tray-turning member, tray-grippingmembers carried thereby, levers .for manually shifting the tray-turningmember from tray-engaging position to release position, means forimparting a semicircular rotary movement to the tray-turning memberwhile passing from tray-engaging position to tray-releas ing position,means for maintaining the tray turning member against rotation whilepassing from tray releasing position to trayengaging position, conveyermeans for passing the trays from the ground to the tray turning member,tray-gripping members carried by the tray-turning member, means foractuating the gripping members which are uppermost in the tray-engagingposition, and means for actuating the tray-gripping members which arelowermost in the tray-releasing position, said tray-turning memberpassing over the conveyer in the tray-engaging position, and passing toclear the conveyer in the tray-releasmg posltion.

7. In a device as described, a main frame, an auxiliary frame,master-Wheels supporting the main frame at the rear, truck-wheelssupporting the auxiliary and main frames at the front, pivotallyconnected tractorconnecting elements, adapted to be shifted to eitherside of the machine, means for se curing the tractor-connecting elementsin operative position on either side of the ma chine, an operators seat,means for attaching the seat to either side of the machine, a conveyerextending over the auxiliary frame and adapted to convey the trays tothe rear of the machine, sprocket and chain connection whereby theconveyor is driven with the movement of the master-Wheels, atray-turning member, crosshead guides on the frame adjacent to theconveyer, crossheads sliding therein, and supporting the tray-turningmember, ratchet mechanism to operate the tray-turning member with asemicircular movement when passing from tray-engag ing position over theconveyer to the releasing position, ratchet mechanism serving to preventrotation of the tray-turning member when passing from'tray-releasingposition to engaging position, "tray-gripping members carried bythetray-turning member, a transverse shaft at the rear of the frame,lever arms depending therefrom, bars connecting the lever arms and saidcrossheads, a lever on either side of the machine for operating saidtransverse shaft, and a clutch mechanism for throwing either manuallymanipulated lever into operative connection with the transverse shaft. p

In testimony whereof, I hereunto afiix my signature. I v

I KAT SUJIRO SANWO,

